3 Dogs Rescued from Hot Cars at Arden Fair Mall

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SACRAMENTO—

Animal control responded to an emergency call at the Arden Fair Mall and found not one, but three dogs trapped in parked cars.

Just as they were about to rescue the first dog, the owners showed up to claim it.

“We just got ourselves in a little situation with the dog. He was left in the car for a little too much heat in the car. He just needed a little water that’s it,” said Steve Reed, Arden Fair Mall’s security manager.

Bajro Ponjevic and Mavludin Ponjevic told FOX40 they had left their dog in the car with the windows cracked for a half hour, but mall security strongly disagreed.

“In this particular case, [it was] 127 degrees inside the vehicle. It was left in the vehicle from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m., and then the owner was pretty flippant about the fact that the dog was in danger,” Reed said.

Ponjevic eventually admitted he should have left Buddy in the car.

“I wasn’t thinking … I shouldn’t have left him in there,” Bajro said.

“Would you do it again?” we asked. “No, I would urge anyone not to do that,” Bajro said.

As soon as animal control cited the Ponjevics, officers had to run across the parking lot to rescue two other dogs. Once there, the owner showed up in the nick of time, but was extremely agitated.

The owner – who refused to identify himself – left his two dogs in his trailer for 45 minutes. Mall security says temperatures in his vehicle reached 104 degrees. But the owner didn’t think he did anything wrong.

“Was our dog in danger of being outside? I don’t think so,” said the owner.

But animal control, along with mall security, found him in the wrong and gave him a citation for leaving his animals in a closed parked vehicle.

“When it’s a 100 degrees outside it takes only about 20 minutes to get up to 120, 130 degrees in there. So you put a human being in there with a fur coat on for two hours and let them see how it feels.”

Both owners were cited and given heavy penalties for leaving their dogs behind in parked vehicles.